97 More Days

Whooo Hoooo! Only 97 more days until the presidential election. I think that our democracy and voting process are very important, but I am so beyond sick of all the mud slinging. I will be so glad when it is over.

I know I sound like a cynic, but neither of them is the perfect candidate and both are likely just telling us what we want to hear and aren’t likely to keep their promises once in office.

Back to an Old Favorite

I started getting things back undercontrol Monday afternoon. Note I said afternoon........ I managed to polish off a packaged of vitamuffins in the morning (how did they get in my cart at Meijers????) I ended up with my points at 22 for the day, so I undid 6 points of damage which is a step in the right direction.

Today things really fell back in line. I didn't go to kettle bell today. I decided to workout by myself in the gym at work. It had been a long time since I did anything but change my clothes in there. The VP added a little mini fridge with bottled water while I've been gone. While I love my new friends and kettlebell workouts, this was a refreshing visit with an old friend. I didn't do anything particularly exciting.....one minute intervals between level 4 and level 10 on the treadmill walking at a brisk pace. I really worked up a sweat and felt great afterward.

I think this is another example of my extremism behavior. Instead of doing a little bit of everything, I get focused on one thing and do it ad nauseum. Moderation Brenda.....Moderation Maybe I need a tatoo of this on my forearm so I remember to live this way more often.

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid

My attitude really sucked after weigh in on Saturday and my food journal can back that up. I guess I just figured if I am going to gain weight, I may as well eat. I know….. really bad attitude. I did well while I worked at the park, but once I got home, all bets were off. I went 10 points over my daily on Saturday and things only got worse on Sunday.

Sunday I had a birthday party to go to for a friend and I started freaking about what to wear or if I would have anyone to talk to. I started eating even before I left the house. I just started grabbing at food. Potato chips (which I don’t even like) with chocolate chips (makes the potato chips tolerable). Then I ate chicken leg and a fiber one bar. Once at the party, I went to town on the nuts and mints sitting on the table, I ate a BBQ sandwich and the huge piece of birthday cake they set in front of me. It wasn’t even chocolate cake, but I ate it all the same. You would think I would have recovered my senses on the way home but then I threw a pork loin on the grill along with some corn on the cob. I finished the night off with a no pudge brownie with ice cream and a fiber one bar just as I went to bed. Whew…you tired yet?

I estimate I went about 16 points over my daily points on Sunday. I may have gone over board, but I did write everything down…….you thought that would have stopped the madness. So the total weekend damage is about 26 points. I’ll round that figure up to 30 just to be safe.

My plan is to cut back my daily points each day to make up the insanity and add in two extra workouts.

Weigh in Report for July 26th

Remember last week's weigh in report? Go read it again. Same thing happened this week.

Baseball is so Boring

Last night my hubby and I went to see another minor league baseball game. I am not a sports fan in general, but enjoy going to the Tiger games in Detroit because there’s so much more to do than watch baseball.

Maybe it’s just this minor league team, but they just can’t seem to hit the ball anywhere. They don’t need to rake the field because it’s rare for anyone to actually run the bases. I will say it is a beautiful stadium and the staff are the most friendly and accomodating I've ever experienced.

I was so bored and all the food smelled so good. I could have eaten three days worth of points just out of boredom. I did go prepared though; I ate an egg white sandwich before I left for the game along with some steamed veggies. I also packed a vita muffin and some trail mix in my purse for sweet snacks. The only thing I bought to eat was a soft pretzel with salt. We didn’t eat any hotdogs.

While it was nice to spend time with my hubby, I told him he can invite a friend to enjoy the other two games that we have tickets for.

The Beer is Working!!!!

My co-gardener just called and she said the beer slaying of the slugs is working. She said it is amazing how many dead slugs there were in all of our containers this morning when she checked on the garden.

Tonight it's my turn to fill up the containers with beer although I did find a recipe for something else that should produce the same result. I guess the slugs are attracted to the yeast. So I found a recipe that called for 1 cup of water, ½ cup of sugar and ¼ teaspoon of yeast. When the beer runs out we will likely switch to that concoction.

I am just so pleased that we found a way to rid our garden of a pest without resorting to nasty chemicals.

My Eggs come from Happy Chickens

Last night I made my bimonthly trip out to the Amish farm to buy eggs. I get 12 dozen at a time and give three to my friend, and two to my mom and the rest are mine to last me two weeks. We really do go through all the eggs too. John and I eat the whites, the dogs get the yolks, and the shells go into my cooking compost! I save the containers and return them back to the Amish for refilling. I love that nothing is thrown away. Some Amish do run puppy mills and would never support an Amish family that did that, but this family only raises livestock. I've not seen any dogs.

Today I snuck a picture from my van of my happy chickens (I assume they are happy, as I was unable to interview them individually) scratching away at the grass eating grubs or other yummy insect goodness. I say I had to sneak a picture because the Amish farmer was there and the Amish do not like their picture taken. Trust me the white specks in front of the barn are chickens.

The more I read about where our commercial food comes from the happier I am that at least one thing I eat isn’t injected with who knows what and isn’t kept in a tiny cage. I am currently reading Michael Pollans, The Omnivore’s Dilema. It has been very informative read without the finger wagging of everything from the grocery store is evil. This guy just actually follows the route of food from beginning to our plate.

Yesterday was the first time there was a person around. There is a sign on the door that says eggs self serve and inside the door is a little table with dozens of eggs boxed up. The Amish do not believe in electricity so the eggs are not refrigerated. Some people freak out about this, but these are FRESH eggs, they don’t need refrigerated (think about it, the hen it came from is room temperature). My understanding is that commercial eggs are refrigerated because they have no idea how old they are and that way they can put freshness date on them of 4 weeks from when you buy them. I do refrigerate my eggs when I get them home, but a friend of mine doesn’t. He stores his in the breezeway of his house and has never had any problems. This Amish farm also takes orders for fresh chickens, and I think the next time I stop I will order a couple of chickens too

Garden Bounty

I got a panicked call from my friend about our garden this weekend and did not take her seriously enough. She said we had slugs in our garden. I imagined a cute little snail without a shell just living in the garden. No such luck.

We have a total alien infestation of these buggers! They are eating and boring holes in all of our food! I found one inside a faded blossom of a zucchini plant eating the veggie as it formed. There are thousands of them all over everything. Everything is on the buffet for these aliens.

I did some checking on line and it said to put out trays of beer in the garden and the slugs will be drawn to it and they will drink the beer and die. I ran to the local party store and grabbed a 12 pack of the cheapest beer I could find. I asked the clerk as I was paying if this was their cheapest beer as I had slugs, and he commented that I must not like my drinking buddies if I am calling them slugs. So I had to explain what a slug was and what I had been told the beer will do to the slugs. Last night we set out 8 little lids and put beer in them. I am anxious for Stacey to call today and tell me if our natural remedy worked.

Anyway, I was able to pick some basil, zucchini, radishes, green beans, and dill. I chopped up the zucchini along with an onion, some small red potatoes, basil, and a can of diced tomatoes then I topped it with some shredded Monterey jack cheese. It was so good I brought the leftovers with me for lunch today.

Product Review: Trader Joe's Ground Buffalo Steak Burgers

I have always heard that buffalo is supposed to be very good for you. It is a lean meat and most often grass fed so it is high in Omega 3s. I found these on my last shopping trip to Trader Joe's. I thought these were pretty reasonably priced. There were four good sized burgers (frozen weight was somewhere over a pound) in the package and I think they were $5.39 or something like that.

I threw them on the grill last week then topped with the usual hamburger fare. They were amazing. They were so meaty but without the grease. I figure any grease they contained originally was likely burned off from being on the grill. Each burger patty weighed 3.5 oz after cooking.

Now the nutritional information on the box said to count 7 WW points for each burger. I just don’t see how they could have that many points for only 3.5 oz of super lean meat. I would estimate maybe 5 points at the outside for a patty considering that the leanness reminded me of venison more than beef. So I counted it at 5 instead of 7. Thinking back, maybe that was part of my 1 pound gain this week.

Anyway, they were delicious off the grill, although I would guess they would taste just as good off the George Foreman grill. I also thought the price was right. This will be on my next Trader Joe’s list for sure.

Product Review: Trader Joe's Buffalo Burger

I have always heard that buffalo is supposed to be very good for you. It is a lean meat and most often grass fed so it is high in Omega 3s. These were pretty reasonably priced. There were four good sized burgers in the packaged and I think they were $5.39 or something like that.
I threw them on the grill last week then topped with the usual hamburger fare. They were amazing. They were so meaty but without the grease. I figure any grease they contained originally was likely burned off from being on the grill. Each burger patty weighed 3.5 oz after cooking.

Now the nutritional on the box said to count 7 WW points for each burger. I just don’t see how they could have that many points for only 3.5 oz of super lean meat. I would estimate maybe 5 points at the outside for a patty considering that the leanness reminded me of venison more than beef. So I counted it at 5 instead of 7. Thinking back, maybe that was part of my 1 pound gain this week.

Anyway, they were delicious off the grill, although I would guess they would taste just as good off the George Foreman grill. I also thought the price was right. This will be on my next Trader Joe’s list for sure.

Product Review: Trader Joe's Meatless Balls

This is the second time I’ve had the meatless balls from Trader Joes. Six meatballs are 3 WW points, which considering their size is a pretty good value. These are precooked so all you have to do is heat and eat.

The first time I had them for dinner I baked them in the oven for 25 minutes and they came out so good. Just a little crunch on the outside like I like. I just put them on top of the pasta and sauce when we were ready to eat.

This time I just added them to a can of Marinara sauce with some onions and mushrooms. I didn’t like them this way as well as cooking in the sauce made them soggy. The taste is still really good and I am always looking for meat substitutes that John won’t protest.

The other day he needed an ice pack for his leg and wanted to use them instead of a bag of veggies and I could have come out of my skin. Not my Trader Joe’s Meatless Balls!!!! He does like them he was just trying to get a rise out of me.

Car troubles continued.....

I got a call from my insurance agency this afternoon. Evidently what the policeman said to me the morning of the accident was not what he decided to write on the police report! While he told me that we were both at fault for the accident, according to the insurance, the report indicates I was the only one at fault.

This means that not only aren't any of the damages to my car covered, but now my insurance says I have to pay the other persons deductable to the tune of $500! For goodness sake, I don't even have a car that will run let alone look like anything other than a white trash mobile and now they expect me to cover her $500 deductable on top of the unknown amount to fix my own car by the time all is said is done.

I will admit I was at partly at fault for trusting that she was turning left even though she turned right and didn't have a blinker on and not being able to stop my vehicle, that's the law, but damn it, she was at fault too!

The insurance is giving me a choice, I pay the $500 and nothing goes on my insurance record. If I choose to not pay the $500 they will put an "at fault" accident on my insurance record for 3 years and my insurance premiums will go up. She wasn't able to tell me how much they woud go up.

On my commute home I alternated between wishing the persons hair to fall out, to wishing the police officer's pants to fall down on his next call, to crying because where the hell am I going to come up with $500 when I don't even have the money to fix my own damn car!

What I didn't do when I got home, was stress eat! Instead I just collected all the poodle kisses that were needed to make me realize there aren't many more important things in the world than poodle kisses. I fixed my dinner (spaghetti with meatless balls) and ate it. There were even vitamuffins in the fridge!

So the score stands: Insurance company: $500, Brenda: self restraint and seeing the bigger picture.

Speaking of eating choices

Here is a questionable combination: Tuna sandwhich and a grande sugar free mocha from Biggby's.


Every week I have a coffee lunch with one of my most amazing friends. She works at the local hospital and I pick her up we have coffee at Biggby's and chat about our lives. I so look forward to this face time with her. We chat via email all the time, but sometimes it's just good to see the face of a friend.

Today was our coffee lunch. Then I came back to the office and ate my tuna sandwhich. Gotta say now I feel a bit queasy.......

New Day

Okay, I'm done with my whining pitty party and moving on. I do not want to stay at this weight, but I don't feel like I am entirely in control so all I can do is live my life like I plan to live it until the end.
Make good eating choices, drink water, and move more. As I have said before that's what I can control. Funny how I keep saying that but it doesn't seem to sink in like it should.

Weigh in Report for July 19th

@!#$*%$#**& (my attempt at an expletive rant)

I was up one pound today. My emotions swing from being pissed off to depressed to feeling like a fraud and a loser (and not the good kind). I worked my gate attendant job today so I had plenty of solitude to reflect on the results of the week. I mean, come on already! I have not been in new weight territory since the middle of May! May....we're talkin' like two frickin months ago! No real weight loss in two months.

On a side note this morning I only drove part of the way in to weight watchers and then pulled my bike out of the van and rode it the rest of the way. I estimate I rode about 2 1/2 miles each way. I also hit kettle bell class twice this week. I looked up the activity points for kettle bell and it is considered high intensity for 30 minutes and equals 5 activity points.

So I am looking over my journal and here are my points for each day. I am supposed to have 28 or 29 points per day not including 35 flex points and activity points. I am working off the idea that I had been restricting my calories too much and so I have made a point to use some of my flex and/or activity pionts. So here are the numbers: Sat= 38 ( I consider Sat my splurge day and allow myself 10 or so extra points) Sun=26, Mon=31, Tue=30, Wed=27, Thur=28, Fri=29. I don't think I went crazy this week.

I really hoped I would have a decent loss this week and either be back at my lowest or even in new territory. No suck luck (and I am beginning to thing this is weight loss thing has a lot to do with luck. It sure isn't calories in calories out like Jillian on Biggest Loser is always saying....at least not for me the last few months.

I will keep keeping on. I won't back down, I won't give up. I know that says something about me, I just wish I had some losses to go along with my resolve.

Working on the Garden

This week I ran over to my friends to work on our cooperative garden. While she cooked dinner, her three children and I went to work with a hoe and pulling weeds. Surprisingly it was time to harvest a few things already. The kids and I stood eating fresh green beans right off the plants, we pulled a few small radishes that were a bit crowded and also pulled the last of the lettuce.

The lettuce we planted was a variety mix and one of them is so hot it’ll peal your pants off! We were guessing that it may have been related to the horseradish family. Talk about clear out your sinuses.
There are some roma tomatoes almost ready to pick (next day or two) and the rest of the plants are loaded with fruit. We are going to have so much canning to do. I could make out the very beginnings of the broccoli nestled in its leaves and the heads of cabbage are about the size of a child’s fist.

The cucumbers and various squash plants are enormous and full of fading flowers. The dill, fennel are looking good but something is eating the basil. The onion tops are looking strong and tall.

A few weeks in, we covered all the isleways with newspaper and then covered that with a nice covering of straw. That has made all the difference in the weeds.

Bathing Suit

Hold on to your coulots everyone.

I bought a bathing suit today! I didn’t try it on (I made sure it could be returned though). My friend has a pool and after I gardened the other night I took a dip using one of her old swimsuits.

It has been at least 10 years since I have had a bathing suit on or went swimming. Her suit didn’t fit right so I wore my sports bra underneath it (glad it was just her and the kids). I really enjoyed it. The kids and I played games and did a lot of laughing and splashing.

I’ve always enjoyed swimming just never enjoyed the bathing suit part of it. So I decided I should find a suit (on the clearance rack of course) that I would feel more comfortable in should I decide to take another dip. I'm a long way from feeling comfortable wearing it in public but I am planning to go canoeing next week so I may even feel confident to wear it as we paddle down the river (I'll only scare the fish)!

Talk about a big step. Okay, this is not a pic of my new suit. It doesn’t cover quite this much.

Shout out to the Wisconsin Crew

My mom is out visiting our family in Wisconsin and my favorite cousins Dee and Amanda were telling her how much they enjoy reading the blog. (Hmmmmmm I don’t even hear from one of them……Amanda!!!!)

Mom also tells me that cousin Amanda has dropped an amazing 140 pounds! Whooo hooo girlie! I’m doing the snoopy dance for you. I hear you look amazing. Sure wish I could be there sitting around the bon fire with all of you. Save me some deep fried cheese curds will ya?

Microchipping Your Pet

The Today show this morning interviewed a family from Brooklyn, New York that had lost their dog and it ended up 850 miles away in Georgia. Their dog was returned to them because he had a microchip imbedded in him that the shelter was able to scan and get basic information from such as his name and where the family lived. The only reason they were reunited with their dog was because of that micro chip.

I am a big advocate of microchipping our pets. If you aren’t familiar, these microchips are about the size of a grain of rice and are inserted using a large needle into the area between the shoulder blades of the animal. The microchip can then be scanned (similar to at the grocery store) and contact information (via a form the owner and vet clinic fills out) is linked to that particular chip with the maker of the chip. Most shelters and vet offices have these scanners. I think you can get a chip inserted and registered for around $50 here in Michigan.

All of my dogs have either a Home Again ™ or Avid ™ brand microchip. Some people think this in invasive and prefer to just keep collars and tags on their animals. I like to do both because collars can come off. My dogs do wear collars and the tag on the collar has my phone number, my vet clinic phone number and the word microchipped. That way, when the dog is found the collar tells them right then and there that they are indeed microchipped. I also think (hope) that microchipping will deter someone from trying to steal your dog.

Back to Kettle Bell

I worked out at the kettle bell gym today for the first time in two weeks. That cold really got into my lungs and I hated the thought of coughing all over everyone and leaving my germs all over the bells so I stayed away until I really felt 100%.

It was so great to be back. I missed the girls there so much. I think they actually missed me too. Nikki even even called me at work to make sure I was returning today. I received lots of hugs and was really flattered that they made such a fuss over me getting back there.

I could really tell it had been two weeks since I had worked out. My endurance took a hit and I had to use a lighter bell. I sure worked up a sweat. There is a new trainer leading the daytime classes and she is wicked! I thought Liberty was tough, but the apple doesn't far fall from the tree when it comes to Jen. It felt so good to huff and puff and be drenched with sweat again. I really missed it and can't wait to go back for more punishment tomorrow.

Even better than the workout is that post workout high. Those endorphins that get released give me the most amazing high for about three hours. I can't stop smiling and I caught myself singing at the top of my lungs on the way home. That high is so worth getting sweaty for. The feeling I get I'm sure puts any street drug to shame.

Fresh Ingredients

Michigan is starting to get in good fresh fruit and veggies. Meijer’s has had plums and nectarines (still from California, not Michigan yet) on sale the last couple of weeks that are amazing. The farmers markets that I go to have had strawberries for weeks and are now selling plump juicy blueberries. You can also get plenty of lettuce, peas, radishes and broccoli already.

A coworker and I ate an entire pint of blueberries last week at lunch. Right now, blueberries are $3 per pint and Strawberries are $3.50 per quart. I justify it by reminding myself that I wouldn’t have thought twice about spending $3.50 for a bag of Pepperidge Farms cookies. Now that I value real food over junk food, I shouldn’t balk at paying it for fruits and vegetables.

I just love that I enjoy fruit as much if not more than junk food now. Sure, I eat the vita muffin tops occasionally or a skinny cow ice cream bar (I’m happy to say I have both those binging addictions under control), but I look forward to packing my bag for work with good stuff. I have a plum and a nectarine for morning snack and then bring an apple to eat on the commute home. A year ago, I’d have smacked you if you would have said I would voluntarily eat three pieces of fruit per day.

This weekend at the farmers market I picked up a head of fresh cabbage along with freshly dug red potatoes and onions. I used the cabbage to make another batch of cabbage roll casserole and we had the potatoes and onions on the grill last night. I just cut up them up and put them in an aluminum foil pouch with a touch of olive oil and throw them on the grill for about 12 minutes. Fresh food just tastes so much better than something that was shipped from goodness knows where and then sits in a cardboard box for a week or more. My local farmers market has even been giving away reusable grocery bags. Even though it is supposed to be only one per customer, I have asked for one each week so I have managed to accumulate three of them.

Car Troubles Stress Me Out

The bad news is my car is still not drivable after last month’s car accident. I thought I was close but when I took the new wheel to be aligned, they discovered another $500 worth of repairs that needed done (tie rods, bushings, ball joints, bolts). Man, I’m already $250 in to repairs and I still can’t drive it. We aren’t even talking about making it look decent by pulling out the crashed fender, or putting on a new side mirror. I’m just trying to get it back on the road.

I am very fortunate to have a back up vehicle. I have a 17 year old van that I have been driving. It has its own set of old age problems. Leaking oil, no air conditioner, and a back window that is missing two of the four bolts that hold it on to the door.

The good news is that I am not stress eating. Car troubles have always really freaked me out and made me cry. Yes, I cry when I have car problems. I think it’s that helpless, at the mercy of the mechanic feeling that makes me cry and want to eat. Believe me, I’ve thought about it.

When I got the call about the additional $500 tie rods and other paraphernalia, I almost grabbed quarters and headed for the ding dongs in the vending machine. But I was able to stop and ask myself, what will that really accomplish? Yes the waxy chocolate and sugar laden filling will taste good as I eat them in a total of four bites, but then what. I will still need more car repairs and then I’ll know that I’ve done something that will start a terrible cycle.
I am really pleased that I have been able to talk myself down from the ledge and I think it shows that I am getting stronger and even restructuring my brain a bit.

The Compost Pile

Whoo Hoo, the compost pile is a brewin’. I have had to shred some paper to add to the pile as I came to understand that my ratio of green waste to brown waste was off. I guess you are supposed to have 3 parts brown waste, to 1 part green waste. Green waste includes my fruit and veggie scraps, egg shells, and grass clippings. Brown waste includes dried leaves, twigs, straw and newspaper and dryer lint (I think).

I have lots of green waste and not so much of the brown waste. I shredded some newspaper and am now saving my cardboard toilet paper rolls and to add to the pile to correct my unbalance. If you have too much green then the pile doesn’t “cook” like it should and will begin to smell. There are lots of flies are come out when I remove the lid to put more food scraps in, but I just close it quickly. I’ve also begun to add some water every couple of days. I need to get out the pitchfork and stir things up, but I’m afraid I’m going to get grossed out when I see “disco rice” writhing in the pile. I’m sure it is normal, but still makes me itch.

I finally found something more permanent to hold our waste in the house until I’m ready to go add it to the pile at the end of the day. I had just been using a cool whip container (which was too small), but this weekend I found a 2 ½ gallon plastic paint bucket with a lid. I can accumulate for at least a day before taking it out to the pile. It does have a few holes in the lid so unfortunately I am still attracting fruit flies, so maybe I need to make sure to take it out daily. You can buy kitchen compost pails that are very pretty and even have charcoal filters in the lid if you like, but they are $30, and $3 for the paint bucket was much more appropriate for my budget.

I realize we are only a few weeks into this new habit but already we have reduced our actual garbage that goes to the curb to less than a bag per week. We throw away almost no food garbage now. Either we eat it before it goes bad, the dogs eat it, or it is something that can go in the compost pile. I even read that I can put dog hair in it (believe me I have plenty of dog hair). I just don't know if it is considered green or brown.

Weigh in Report for July 12th

Betcha thought I'd fallen off the face of the earth didn't cha? More on that in another post.

Today I was down 3 pounds! Yippee. ONe more pound and I will be back to my lowest weight which was the 2nd week of boot camp when I lost 7 pounds.

So what did I do different? I ate all my point each day. No telling myself that if I cut out a few extra points I'll have a bigger loss. I even ate some of my flex points last Saturday. I also didn't do any formal exercise all week. The only activity was mowing the grass this week.

So I am going to do the same thing this week with the exception of the exercise. I have really missed going to kettle bell so I add that back in. Maybe I'll even eat a couple of activity points for it.

Hopefully I will get a similar result next week.

Back to Work

Well the holiday is over and it was jammed packed with activity. John and I went to a local minor league ball game on Thursday, went to see the Bay City Fireworks on Friday with his family, and I worked Sat and Sunday as a gate attendant for our local county parks.

I love working as a gate attendant in the summer. It is a nice, low pressure job and the people are usually in a great mood because they are heading out tubing or canoeing on the river, and I get caught up on my reading in between customers. The only drawback is sitting out in the heat sucking in the dust that’s kicked up by all the cars going through. It’s an excuse to relax (read: no laundry, no dishes, no sweeping) and read while making money. I took Monday off from work to recoup and try to get over this nasty summer cold. I slept all day (I was only awake 5 hours). I feel much better today.

Sitting in solitude gave me lots of time to examine my eating habits and refocus my attention on getting back on track and losing weight again. I’m going back to basics: Counting points, weighing and measuring everything and not eating something that I have to “guess” the points on. I really think part of my problems has stemmed from trying new things (carob covered cashews from the health food store), and since I don’t know how to count something I “forget” to count for it at all. I am certainly doing myself a disservice.
I haven’t lost any real weight in months and while on the one hand, I can partially blame this lack of loss on screwing up my metabolism, I have to blame myself for the last month of not counting everything and not eating as well as I could have.

What is that saying… it’s not how many times you get knocked down that matters, it’s how many times you get back up. I think being willing to honestly examine what I’ve been doing and admitting when I screw up, is what’s going to get me to my goal.

Cholesterol Problems in Children?

Did anyone catch the evening news last night? On NBC nightly news the American Academy of Pediatrics is now recommending to start screening children as early as age two if they are considered high risk (family history or are overweight) for high cholesterol and heart disease. They are also approving statins (like Lipitor) be prescribed as early as age 8.

What are we doing to ourselves? I’m reading a book called Eat to Live by Dr Furhman. One of the chapters is titled “Digging Our Graves with Forks and Spoons”. I thought his views seemed a bit extreme as I was reading. Basically he recommends a diet of nearly all vegetables (2 pounds per day minimum) and fruit, with a few beans thrown in. He vehemently opposes the eating of any animal products. That means no dairy, eggs, meat, and such. He firmly believes that those are the cancer and disease causing agents in our lives. About halfway through the book I was already deciding that I wasn’t going to attempt his diet style as it really seemed so restrictive, but now I wonder if I should take a second look.

We are killing ourselves with all the junk we are eating. I also read this weekend that the Japanese eat 30% more calories than we Americans do, yet they weigh 20% less? How can that be? This article said that because their calories come from Vegetables and non animal proteins, their body actually uses what they eat instead of storing it around their middle.
I like junk as much as the next guy. You do have to wonder what our society is going to look like in 20 or 30 years if we don’t change the way we eat.

Weigh in Report for July 5th

Well, I'd love to tell you I had a great loss this week, but I actually gained 1.8 pounds this week. I totally fell down on the job. I "thought" I had been eating well, but honestly did not track or write down much. I also didn't go to kettle bell or do any other form of exercise at all this week. Plus I know I hit the trail mix pretty hard at the minor league baseball game I went to on Thursday night.

So I have no one to blame for this gain but myself. I took the week off from my healthy life and you know what, I am paying for it. I paid for it on the scale today but I also paid for it because I feel totally run down from this cold and I wonder if I would have improved quicker if I had been eating right and exercising.

Live and learn and get back up on the horse and continue to ride into the health sunset.

Grande Sugar Free Skim Mocha No Whip

This is my drink of choice from Biggby coffee that just opened up near where I work. This is the first “real” coffee shop in this town. They had their grand opening last week and I am ashamed to admit this……but …….I went every single day last week for a coffee! I am ashamed because I know that this stuff is crap for your body plus a $4 a day coffee habit does not fit into my meager budget. All the staff and management know me by name already. (It’s like Cheer’s….everyone knows your name). This town was thrilled to have a chain coffee shop. On last Monday, (the official grand opening) the line was 25 people deep at 6am!

I did better this week, I met a friend for a lunch time coffee on Monday and then I stopped this morning for one. Next week I will allow myself to stop once per week and that’s it. Their website gives you all the nutritional information so I can count the calories.

Other than my budding coffee habit, my eating has been good despite being extra tired this week and catching a mother of a cold.

Is it easier when you have more to lose?

I called my dear friend Diana today and she told me that she was officially made a Weight Watchers lifetime member this week. I am so proud of her. I think she lost just under 40 pounds total. She and her husband joined WW the same week that I did.

I just think it must be harder to lose 30 or 40 pounds than the 130 than I needed to lose. I say this because if I were only about 30 pounds over weight, I don’t think I would have even thought I needed to lose weight at all. I just wouldn’t have thought it was such a big deal and just continued on with my life. I’d have bought a bigger size and waddled on. This makes total sense because I was 130 pounds over weight before I decided to do anything. I just kept buying a bigger size each season. It took a huge mountain of a weight problem to get myself motivated.

I am proud of her and everyone else that realizes that just losing any amount of excess weight (even as small as 10% of their body weight) will make a difference in their health.

End of Quarter Inventory

Not feeling very talkative today as yesterday I stayed until after 10 pm and helped with end of quarter inventory and ended up working a 14 hour day. Pretty tired today considering I got less than 6 hours sleep last night before I need to turn around and get back into work.

Friends and Coworkers

I had a big fender bender on my way to work this yesterday morning. What a way to start a Monday. The end result is that the sheriff deputy found us both at fault which since I have PLPD insurance means that none of my damages will be covered. Minimum I need a new wheel and tire to the tune of about $250. The entire drivers side of the car actually needs replaced, but I will just have the front fender bumped out and call it good. I can think of a lot better places to put my money than just making my car look normal again.

What strikes me is how great some of the people I work with are. My coworker and friend were right on the scene helping me to change the wheel and put on the temporary tire so I could get the rest of the way in to work. Our truck driver is taking care of getting me a deal on the new wheel and tire and one of the tool room guys is all over bumping out the fender and doors.

So, as rotten as my Monday began, I was okay, the other person was fine and my friends and coworkers were right there to help me get things back to normal. I have to feel pretty lucky to have all these people I can turn to for help.